New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Position in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,200 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of Assurant worth $8,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,775,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,338,041,000 after acquiring an additional 88,749 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Assurant by 23.7% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,010,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,085,247,000 after purchasing an additional 959,259 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Assurant by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,245,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $245,879,000 after purchasing an additional 53,773 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Assurant by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 665,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $143,588,000 after buying an additional 150,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assurant during the 2nd quarter valued at $131,300,000. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE AIZ opened at $241.43 on Thursday. Assurant, Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.97 and a 52 week high of $244.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $12.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $234.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.78.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $5.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $1.50. Assurant had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 18.61%. The company had revenue of $3.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AIZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $255.00 price objective on Assurant in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Assurant presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.67.

Assurant Company Profile

Assurant, Inc is a global provider of risk management products and services, specializing in the housing and lifestyle markets. The company offers insurance and related products designed to help consumers protect their homes, personal belongings, and electronic devices. Its core offerings include renters insurance, manufactured housing finance, flood insurance, mobile device protection plans, and extended service contracts for appliances and electronics.

Within its Global Housing segment, Assurant partners with mortgage lenders, financial institutions and government agencies to deliver specialty insurance and risk mitigation services.